Hagskýrslur um manntöl - 01.01.1975, Page 41

English summary
During thc recent decades an increasing amount of social research lias been coiicentrated on
population issues and the economic impacts of population growth. The ceusus tabulatious of this
work are integral elements of a demographic time series from a country which is technically and eco-
nomically highly developed today.
Tlie tradition of collecting and preserving population data is of old date in the Nordic countries.
In this part of tlie world parish registers were establislied in the inid-17th century and elaborate stati-
stics on the movcment of the population is available in Swedcn and Finland at each administrative
level ever since 1749. In Icelaud, which was part of Denmark until 1918 and in union with Denmark
until 1944, thrcc inodem censuses were taken in the 18th century. Statistical tables based on the popula-
tion census of 1703 including all Iceland were published by Hagstofa Islands in 1960. Tables 1—14
of tlie prcsent work are based on census retums from thrce counties in 1729 (Arnes-, Rangárvalla-
and Hnappadalssýsla). Thesc census lists served as test data at the developinent of a data systein
for processing of census returas at the Institute of Statistics, Copenhagcn University. Contrary to
thc ccnsuscs of 1703 and 1729 no lists of individual inhabitants are available from the census of 1785.
Apart from a blank registration form, the ofíicial instmctions, and the figures in table 15 on the popula-
tion by counly, sex, and 10-years age groups, little is known about this census. No completcd forms
appear to ha\ e becn lianded down to present tiincs. In addition to tliese censuses, basic materials from a
tax census of 1763 and from the aggregate census of 1769 have been preserved. Prior to 1785 the avail-
ablc Icelandic parish regislers generally are in a bad condition and therefore of limited use for the pur-
pose of family reconstitution. A wealth of detailed land registers are preserved from the 17th — 19th
ccnturies in Iceland, the most iinportant being Arni Magnússon’s land register created during 1702—14.
This material and the censuses of 1703 and 1729 is an inexhaustible source of information on the nature
of the settlement, of tlie ownership to tlie means of production, and of central economic properties
of eacli dwelling unit in the early 18th century.
The historical background of the 1703-census wras complaints from the Icelanders to thc King
due to extraordinary difficult liviug conditions caused bv climatic disasters and possibly by the exis-
ling inonopoly on external trade. Tlius thc main purpose of this census was to recognize the size and
structure of the population in order to sec which Govemmental measures should be taken cventually.
In ordcr to evaluatc the intcrnal economic situation, the land register of Arni Maguússon was created
at the same tiinc. However, the public authorities in Iccland and Denmark did not succeed in handling
tlicse social mass data statistically. The objective infiuence of this information on formation of the
actual economic and social political measures, therefore, appears to have been limitcd. The census of
1729, evidently coming into being after an initiative of the King’s prefect in Iceland, Niels Fuhrmann,
was possibly intended to serve as a source of information for the public authorities in case of being
ordered by the King to procure, either by persuasion or eventually by compulsion, soine Icelandic
cmigrants as part of the on-going Danish rcsettlement of Greenland. Thougli this plan did not come
into being, it lias to be reckoned with as a possible cause of incompleteness and erroneous reporting
of personal data in the nominative census lists.
Contrary to the census of 1703 very few paupers are prcsent in the census of 1729. Until thc mid-
19th century village settlement was practically unknown in Iceland. The scattered and isolated habita-
tions, tlicrefore, may easily be identified in the censuses and the land registers from the 18th — 19th
centuries. Comparison of the land registers from c. 1695, 1702—14 and the 1840’ies with the census
lists from tlie three couuties in 1703 and 1729 reveals tliat a maximum of only 16 habitations are
likely to liave evaded registration in the census of 1729. Tlie 1703 census obviously served as an example
when the 1729 census was takcn. However, registration criteria like „inarital status“, „state of health“,
and „position in household44 were not stated explicitly in the ofíicial instructions.
Tlie general level of literacy and education has traditionally been liigli in Iceland. Even in the
carly 18th century, therefore, inost people wcre well aware of tlieir exact age and of their gencalogi-
cal relationships. In both censuses age is reported in completed years. Tlie age of childreu in age 0
is usually indicated in days, weeks, months or winters. For botli sexes heaping at ages ending in 0
and 5 is evident above age 40. Morcover, an increasing preference of even ages to odd ages is evident
from age 30 and older. Age licaping is pronounced in the first ycar of life too. Very few children are